View full sizeMichael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune archiveA prisoner is shown to a holding cell in the intake section of Orleans Parish Prison.

Nonetheless, federal deputy marshals last week placed at the jail a Coast Guard employee who was avowedly suicidal after he tried to wrest a gun from a security officer outside the federal courthouse in New Orleans. The inmate, 48-year-old William Goetzee, successfully killed himself on the jail's psychiatric tier six days later, on Sunday, by swallowing enough toilet paper that it cut off his air supply.

Sheriff Marlin Gusman blamed the suicide on a lax deputy who left a post watching Goetzee for an unspecified period of time. That deputy, a 10-year veteran of the agency whom Gusman has not named, has been suspended.

In an interview on Friday, Gusman said as jail officials conduct an investigation into Goetzee's death, they have been consulting with the Orleans Parish district attorney's office about possible charges.

Critics of the jail said the death underscores the urgency of wrapping up a federal investigation that began in 2008 and -- at least publicly -- appears to have stalled.

Norris Henderson, a community activist and a member of the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition, said advocates recently expressed their frustration about the languid pace to officials with the Justice Department's special litigation section, which conducted the review of the jail released in September 2009.

"The biggest thing we want is federal oversight," Henderson said. "It is not getting better; it is getting worse."

'Inconsistent' practices found

The 2009 report found unconstitutional conditions at the jail ranging from violence against inmates by guards and other inmates to substandard mental health care. The report noted that Gusman requires that suicidal inmates be put under constant direct observation, but the investigation found that staff practices were "inconsistent" with that policy, as well as "generally accepted standards."

Both Gusman and a spokeswoman for the Justice Department said the two sides are working on resolving the problems identified in 2009, although they framed the end result differently.

"We are aware of the ongoing problems at the jail and hope to negotiate a consent decree in the near future," said Xochitl Hinojosa, a Justice Department spokeswoman, in a statement.

Gusman, however, said they aren't working on a consent decree, which is a legal agreement that is ultimately overseen by a federal judge and an appointed monitor. Instead, he said, the Justice Department and the Sheriff's Office are negotiating a "memorandum of understanding," which would be an agreement directly between the jail and the federal agency.

Such an agreement, he said, would have "teeth."

"It will spell out what they expect us to do," he said.

Gusman also emphasized that he believed many of the problems outlined by the Justice Department's report had already been addressed, saying the initial findings even when released in 2009 were outdated.

Jail critics won't be satisfied just with an agreement between the jail and the Justice Department, said Henderson. He said federal court oversight is key to building faith that broad changes will be made.

If negotiations fail, the Justice Department can sue the Sheriff's Office, an option they noted in the 2009 report.

Consent decree

Dana Kaplan, executive director of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana and a member of the prison reform coalition, said a consent decree is something city officials and Gusman should embrace. She noted that Gusman has long complained he doesn't get enough money from the city, and a consent decree could help fix that problem, among others.

Gusman said he thinks a memorandum of understanding might accomplish that as well.

While emphasizing the jail is investigating Goetzee's death, Gusman defended the mental health care provided at the jail, noting that his agency last year was reaccredited by National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

The Marshals Service declined to answer questions about whether the agency will re-evaluate placement of suicidal inmates at the Orleans Parish jail.

"The U.S. Marshals Service is always concerned about the treatment of its detainees, and is working with local authorities throughout the investigation into the death of inmate William Goetzee," Deputy Chief Steve Blando of the service's public affairs office said in a written statement.

For Goetzee's family, there are still unanswered questions about his death. Margaret Nagle, his sister, said that after his arrest, she was unable to get any information about his condition or even where he was being held.

"I have received no information from any authority from the time my brother was taken into custody until I was notified by the Coast Guard about the death," Nagle said.

Goetzee had worked as a civilian employee with the Coast Guard for more than 10 years, while also serving in the Coast Guard reserves, said Lt. Sue Kerver, a spokeswoman. He worked at the Coast Guard's offices on Poydras Street as a coordinator with regional response teams, including the BP oil spill.